Apply your approved topic* to your chosen news item. In what specific ways does the news item exemplify a particular theoretical position or its influence or allow for demonstration of theoretical considerations inherent in your topic? TOPIC: Utilitarianism

Jurisprudence as we know it is an offshoot of philosophy and more precisely the philosophy that deals with questions of law. When one speaks of jurisprudence there are many theories, calculated analysis and profound philosophies which try, in each its own way, to guide the law as well as us in the end. Utilitarianism is one of them. The original concept of utilitarianism is simple which is, ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number’, as utilitarianism’s best-known advocate, Jeremy Bentham, puts it. Stopping there however would not be doing justice to his theory. Bentham goes on to explain that, for every question whereby we judge whether an act is good or bad, the criterion to answer would be by its consequence. This consequence is taken in regard to the effect that particular act would have on human pleasure and pain, the two ‘sovereign masters that govern mankind’.

Bentham was a man of numbers and to him, good government needs numbers. The importance of numbers to him is indisputable and if anything his propositions were almost always quantitative in nature. Going back to the pleasure and pains idea, Bentham proposed an elaborate and rather thorough guide to analyzing them. For this, he devised a list of pleasures including pleasures of wealth, power, skill and memories among others as well as a list of pains such as pains of regret, disappointment, enmity and awkwardness to name a few. All in all, Bentham lists a total of fourteen pleasures and twelve pains. The value or degree by which a pleasure or a...

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...the morality of our action can be weight to its consequences, that if it results to the greatest good for the human welfare the action is right, if not then it is wrong (Barry, et. al., 2009, p. 72). He then added that a moral prescription of utilitarianism requires that consequences should not only be taken in consideration of an individual but also in respect of the common good.
Added to the consequentialist theory is egoism, which equates morality to the attainment of an...

...March 26, 2013
Word Count = 1115
In the beginning of Utilitarianism John Stuart Mill states that throughout history very little progress has been made towards developing a set of moral standards to judge what is morally right or wrong. Although a certain disagreement about such foundations can also be found in the most “certain” sciences, in those areas truths can still have meaning without understanding the principles underlying them. On the other hand, in philosophy, where...

...Utilitarianism was first developed by Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher and legal theorist of the 18th century. Bentham argued that one should maximise happiness for the majority (‘the greatest good for the greatest number, a view which is known as the ‘Utility Principle’. Happiness was equated with moral goodness. This idea further identifies Bentham as a ‘psychological hedonist’, since he regarded humans as being primarily motivated by pleasure and the avoidance of pain. A...

...Compare and Contrast Utilitarianism with Christian Ethics
The ethical teachings and values of utilitarianism and Christian ethics are similar in some aspects, yet however are diverse in others. Utilitarianism is a generally teleological ethical system, where the outcome is said to justify the act. The act is considered ‘good’ if it brings about the greatest good for the greatest number. Christian Ethics, however, can be quite different. Many...

...Rui Chaves
The Schiavos, Rule Utilitarianism, and Kantian Ethics
The case of “The Schiavos” is focused primarily on one member of the family, which is Terri Schiavo. Terri had been in a coma for 13 years. Although, “no one is completely sure what happened but the best guess is she suffered a heart attack” (Pierce, 64) presumably caused by her bulimia. Due to the severity of her heart attack, it left Terri with severe brain damaged which in turn left her in a persistent...

...Mara Kaouzova
Professor Anthamatten
Philosophical Ethics
April 3 2013
Utilitarianism:
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The Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number
In the ethical debate, a divide has long existed between two models. One school of thought, notably Immanuel Kant’s Deontology, emphasizes the importance moral motivation, the other, represented by Consequentialism, emphasizes the importance of the outcome. Consequentialism is...

...﻿Explain the main strengths of classical utilitarianism
Classical utilitarianism was founded and developed by Bentham and Mill. Both Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill (born in the 18th century) believed in utilitarianism, which is the belief that fundamentally an action is moral as long as it creates the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. Bentham was an act utilitarian, which meant that he thought that an action was...

...references……………………………………………………. 8
Utilitarian of Human Rights
Introduction:
Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its utility in providing happiness or pleasure as summed among all sentient beings. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. The most influential contributors to this ideology were Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill....